February 2017… Sean Murray’s powerful music has been the backdrop behind award-winning games like Call of Duty: Black Ops, Call of Duty: World at War, and Counterstrike: Global Offensive, as well as acclaimed TV shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and God, The Devil, and Bob. His scores are musically dense, visceral, and at times almost otherworldly—all the more interesting in light of his love of organic sounds and natural musical instruments.
“I have a huge collection of vintage synths, as well as a ton of wonderful orchestral sounds and samples,” he observes. “We’ve got every sound you can imagine. But there’s nothing like recording real instruments for your score. I make it a point to always add something real and organic to my scores.”
Often that includes recording his own acoustic guitar, or any of several orchestral string players he works with regularly. “I’ll bring them into my studio, set up a pair of mics, and record them live,” he explains.
Recently, recording those live performances has gotten a whole lot easier, thanks to his new TASCAM DR-100mkIII. “Having something portable like the DR-100mkIII that can really create a studio quality recording has made a huge difference for me,” he enthuses. “I can go into anyone’s living room and get a great sounding recording that I can really use.”
Murray is a big fan of the DR-100mkIII’s dual built-in stereo mics. “The omni mics are fantastic for capturing the ambience of the room. Recently I took it over to my cello player’s house—she’s got this big living room with a high ceiling and hardwood floor, and the room sounds wonderful. I brought the score, had her listen to it on headphones, and recorded her part live to the DR-100mkIII. I was able to take that recording back to my studio, import it into my DAW, and use it in the score.”
Being able to create a professional grade recording anywhere, anytime has been a game changer for Murray, and the DR-100mkIII’s high-quality mics, pro-grade preamps, and ultra-high sampling rates has made it an essential part of his arsenal. “It’s really changing the way I work. Having the 192kHz sampling rate gives me amazing clarity and so much more realism. Having that extra clarity on the high end just really puts that shining touch on it.”
